A wide variety of support systems have been provided in the prior art for holding a hand held camera steady.
However, most camera support systems are rudimentary and largely ineffective, while others are complicated and expensive. Generally, known camera support systems employ rigid bars or un-yielding structural elements that are attached to a camera, therefore making their adjustment extremely difficult, time-consuming and limited in scope.
It is known in the art to provide a support system for a camera in which actual pipe or tube elements are joined together by known pipe fittings, such as right-angle fittings. While such systems certainly may provide the rigidity and strength to support the weight of the camera unit during operation, it should be readily appreciated that the flexibility and orientation of known pipe support systems is severely restricted. That is, as these systems are formed from rigidly connected pipe elements, the range of possible motion of the camera unit is inherently restricted to only those motions or orientations permitted by the innate structure of the system.
Still other support systems for cameras are known in which a complex array rigid structural members form a superstructure which is adapted to rest upon the shoulders or upper torso of an operator. Once so mounted upon an operator, these known superstructures also have inherent restrictions as to the range of possible movement of the camera unit. Moreover, the size and weight of these superstructures make their use difficult and laborious.
It will therefore be readily appreciated that known support systems for optical recording units are universally deficient as being fabricated from rigid and cumbersome constituent elements. The rigidity of these constituent elements is such that the ability to position the optical recording unit as desired is oftentimes hampered by the lack of flexibility inherent in these known systems.
With the forgoing problems and concerns in mind, it is the general object of the present invention to provide a handheld support apparatus for optical recording devices which is formed from inherently flexible elements, thus improving the handling of the device to an extent heretofore known in the art.